NUMERICAL STUDY OF COUPLED EHD-MHD CONTROL FOR ENHANCED LIQUID METAL CHANNEL FLOW

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2026

Department

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

The performance of liquid metal thermal management systems operating under magnetic fields is often limited by magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) braking. This study numerically investigates the potential of coupled Electrohydrodynamic-MHD (EHD-MHD) forcing to overcome this limitation in a 2D channel flow representative of Liquid Metal Heat Pipe (LMHP) conditions, using Galinstan as the working fluid. ANSYS Fluent simulations, incorporating a User-Defined Function for Lorentz forces, compared four cases: baseline (no fields), MHD braking (B = 0.05 T), EHD-MHD pumping (E = 0.05 V/m, B = 0.05 T) with laminar and turbulent models. Results show that the magnetic field alone severely suppresses flow (mass flow reduced by 88.2%), consistent with MHD theory. However, superimposing even a modest electric field dramatically reverses this effect, increasing mass flow rate over 100-fold and heat transfer rate ∼10-fold compared to the baseline, achieving steady state in under 2 seconds. Furthermore, analysis confirmed MHD laminarization occurred even at a Reynolds number of ≈ 7800, validating the laminar model. A timescale analysis supports the observed transient behaviors. These findings demonstrate that EHD-MHD offers effective active control, enabling significant performance enhancements in liquid metal systems despite magnetic braking.

Publication Title

Proceedings of the Thermal and Fluids Engineering Summer Conference

ISBN

[9781567004885]

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